Tag: Physical fitness

Catch Up

When we last left off, dear reader, I had just put my dog down and was helping my kids work through their grief. Since then much has happened, which is what happens when autumn rolls around. The cycling is exquisite, everyone is back to school routines, and life starts to slow down for winter.

 

  • I took the week of Sept 2 ff work. Between Labor Day and the High Holidays and my in-laws coming to visit, it didn’t make sense to shoehorn work in as well. Add in our dog dying and it was a much needed week off of responsibility.
  • I rode my bike a lot that week. It’s really cathartic. Long rides with the bike club; short rides for lunch with my son; medium rides with my step-father-in-law. It was so nice to simply wake up, throw my leg over the top tube and pedal out of town without any worry.
  • I ran a five-miler back in August and promptly hurt my foot. My chiropractor has been adjusting it and I thought I was in a good place, but a 5k proved me otherwise. Back off running for another two weeks … then I can try again. Lots of rolling with a tennis ball to keep things loose and not “crunchy.” PS – having your foot adjusted feels WEIRD.
  • I completed the Scenic Schuylkill Century for the second consecutive year. 103 miles with over 6800′ of climbing. I felt like a mountain goat charging up those final hills. This ride deserves a recap post.
  • I took Electric Dream Machine to the shop for a tune-up (chunky shifting) and ended up getting her new bar tape and a new chain as well. 2500 miles and only 50% worn on of the original chain feels pretty awesome. I feel like a Spin Master.
  • I also found a saddle that doesn’t hurt my butt after 100 miles. It’s an old school Terry Butterfly Ti I found on eBay for $36. You have no idea how relieving this is.
  • I made a lot of cookies. Chocolate crinkles. Molasses. They are all gone now.
  • I bought the last few items I need to make my first attempt at blueberry jam.
  • We selected a hand-made custom urn for Nixon, painted to match her exact coloring. We’re expecting it sometime next week. Until then her ashes are just hanging out in the kitchen and it feels kinda weird. Last night I missed her snuggling up to my feet when I went to bed. Not cry-my-eyes-out missed her … just missed the reassuring weight on her curled up at the bottom of the bed.

 

That week reminded me how much I love unrestricted time. Time to explore, time to play, time to simply be. Far too often I get wrapped up in my everyday life of work, the kids’ school stuff, and housework. Never mind the annual house maintenance that needs to happen like yard work, cleaning out the garage, fixing the downspout that disconnected last October during Hurricane Sandy (*cough cough*).

If I could find a way to still get a paycheck and ride my bike for fun all day, I’d be all over that.

Anyway – I’m still around. I haven’t been riding as much as I want these past two weeks. I haven’t even been bike commuting! And I kinda miss running (but that’s between you and me). I have my BikeMS: City to Shore ride coming up next weekend so I need to get out an ride at least a little bit to keep the legs fresh. Then I’m looking to October to squeeze in some fun weekend rides … maybe do the Central Bucks Covered Bridge Tour again.

 

See you on the road!

 

 

Riding to the City: A Love Note

I woke up this morning feeling awesome.

I attribute this mostly to taking yesterday as a Slug Day, a day where my main accomplishment was taking a shower at 7pm. 

It’s amazing how one day … just one little day … of absolving yourself of all responsibilities can have a huge impact on your outlook. 

 

So I rode my bike in to work. I got up a little later than I usually do when I bike commute and left my house later than usual. 

My legs felt heavy as I re-acquainted myself with my commuter bike and a full pannier after taking out my nice (light and fast) road bike this weekend on a fun ride. 

But pedal-along I did and before I knew it I was coming up on the City. 

 

hello my city
hello my city

 

Once I get closer into the city there is so much to enjoy: the turn-of-the-century architecture, old stone bridges, stairs that bring you to the river’s edge. The lush parks are truly oases among concrete and brick – and the traffic imparts the rhythmic heartbeat of the city. The stop and go of everyday life. 

 

There’s something about today that makes it extra special. 

I’m not sure why I love this City. But I do. 

I’ve never felt this way about a city before – they’ve always just been a jumble of buildings and asphalt and concrete. 

But this one is different. This one is slowly becoming My City. 

 

* * * * * 

 

I’ve looked back at my training calendar and realizing things are not as bleak as they appeared last week. I’ve been out fairly consistently even though I’m going through wild mileage fluctuation (400+ miles one month; less than 200 another month). I suspect my frustration is from a lack of routine. Last summer I knew I was going out every Tuesday night and one day each weekend. I added in bike commuting last August once or twice a week (on my 35+ lb comfort hybrid – dear g-d why did I do that to myself??).

I’m just 32 miles shy of 1800 miles for the year, which is roughly what I did in all of last year. I’m going to be fine. I’ve talked to my bike friends about taking a break and they are super supportive … but I think most of it is just re-framing everything in my mind. 

 

I just need to make things organic to my life – and do them on my own terms.

 

Thanks for listening and see you on the road! 

Just Not My Summer

For the third time in a week, I have ignored my 5:30am alarm.

For the third time in a week, I have chosen sleep over bike commuting.

 

How far I’ve fallen from just a few weeks ago.

 

This summer has been tough for getting good ride time for me.  Lots has been going on outside my world of cycling. Somehow I get it in my head that everyone else in the world is out every day. Everyone else is also better, faster, cooler, and more dedicated than me.  I try to keep up with the false notions my brain feeds me. I feel like I should be pushing through … but for what? I’m not training for anything other than to keep up with the Jones’.

The difference from two weeks ago is family. They are paramount and when they were otherwise occupied, it was easy to get up early and ride. I only had to be concerned for myself. Now I am trying to make sure summer homework is getting done and we squeeze the last bits of freedom out of summer. My in-laws are coming for the weekend and we still need to clean the house. And my stomach issues are still there (better but I’m aware) – and the GI doc is on the calendar for just after Labor Day.

And there’s the stuff I want to do but just haven’t found a way yet: mountain biking; hiking; camping. I’m so frustrated with not being able to do everything I want to do. Not like this is a surprise or anything – I always feel like I should do MORE.

 

So I’ve decided to let it go for now. Let go of the ridiculousness that is trying to keep up with everything. Go on fun rides with friends on  the weekends if It works out. Tinker with bike commuting later in the morning (even though it means riding without the benefit of my awesome bike commuting friends). Get my plans together for my daughter’s Girl scout troop. Sleep in and relax more. Go bowling. Go out-of-town with the family.

Find balance in my life again.

 

I’ll leave you with my most favorite event photo ever. It was taken by Sundance Images in Castle Rock, Colorado. I love this photo so much I ordered it as the cheesy “magazine cover” (Rad & Bad bikes anyone?) because it has that “cover girl” look. I even ordered a second copy for my mom. It reminds me of why I ride – the wind in your face, the scenery, the pavement zipping by. It’s a picture of happiness and ease … you’d never know I was churning up a decent hill.

cover girl
cover girl

See you on the road!

 

Experimentation

This past week has been an experiment in Me.

 

My family was scattered across the country, enjoying their summers as they desire (or for business, depending on who you are). So I had a week of being responsible for only myself. And the dogs but they generally stay home and sleep. As a wife and mom, I just don’t have a lot of time like this and let me tell you …

 

it’s fabulous.

 

I bike commuted three out of four days.

(my legs felt great all week)

I ran a neighborhood 5k just because.

(and because running no longer hurts the next day)

I ate Snack Dinners of cheese, hummus, and crackers.

(but mostly because I’m lazy and dislike cooking)

I paid zero attention to chores or housekeeping.

(because no one was making any messes around here anyway)

 

Good morning, Philadelphia!
Good morning, Philadelphia!

 

I missed the ruckus and chaos though, the happiness and tears, that comes with having five people under one roof. Sure I won’t have as much time anymore for the things that I’ve been doing – but I’m be back to being more than just a kick-ass girl. The reason I could enjoy the time off so much was because I have so many other rich elements to  my life.

 

I also took the time to fill my late August and September weekends with events. And I signed up for the Lemon Run again, for this November. My first 5k last year, I’m hoping to smoke my earlier time. And contemplating a 1/4 marathon trail race in September (at the urging of my friend G-Dawg … that’s a 6.5 mile run for those of you playing at home).

 

See you on the road.

* * * * *

In other news, I’m contemplating writing up full reviews of items I’ve used on my own accord and items that I have started receiving promotionally because I fully believe that if you love something, you need to tell everyone about it so they can also benefit from Awesome Stuff. Stay tuned.

 

The Lemon Ride 2013 Recap

Last year was the inaugural Lemon Ride and it was very fun. I rode with my friends Ultra P and G-Dawg on the 50 mile route – Ultra P smoked G-Dawg and I within the first five miles and had waited about 45min by the time I rolled into the finish. Ultra P is an ultra runner and a very fast one at that. I decided then to do the Lemon Ride again.

This year I’d signed up for the new metric route but soon realized my daughter needed to be at camp that same day – no time to drive an hour, ride for 4 or so, drive an hour home, shower and get her to camp in time. So I did what any other cyclist in this situation did – I registered my daughter and switched to the 4 mile Family Ride.

I’m so glad I did.

In going on the Family Ride, we had the privilege of riding with the families of little Heroes. Each little Hero had a yellow flag attached to their ride – siblings had blue flags proudly displaying their Super Sibling status. Two of the largest “teams” were on the family route – the Fightin’ Fitzgeralds and Team Declan.

little heroes and their super siblings
little heroes and their super siblings

Riding with these families, friends, and supporters of little ones and their families as they fight pediatric cancer (and honor the memory of little ones who fought valiantly but lost the battle) was beyond humbling. I am so thankful that my family has been thus far untouched by the ravages of cancer – but I am proud to support Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and their continued and tireless efforts to uplift and support these little heroes and their families. It was so inspiring to ride with these heroes and their families.

families pedal to help fight pediatric cancer
families pedal to help fight pediatric cancer

Four miles went very quickly – so quickly my daughter thought we’d only gone a single mile. Next year we’ll ride the 12 mile route. We opted to skip the catered lunch (almost an hour wait from the finish of our ride to when lunch was being served) in favor of grabbing a few snacks and heading back home. We still had camp to get to.

Today was proof that the most awesome rides are not always the farthest or the fastest – they are the ones that touch our soul and inspire us to help others in our community.

See you on the road.

Reflections

This has not been my month for exercise.

 

After doubling my monthly mileage in a single day last month, I’ve done pretty much bupkis. Mostly riding my Schwinn to the train because it’s convenient and I can leave two hours later than if I ride all the way in to work. I managed to fully bike commute once last week and it was lovely – but now real life is calling again and I’m homebound for at least another week.

 

It’s pretty sad … I’ve only put in 55 miles this month so far, 16 of those running, hiking, and walking.

 

Yesterday my daughter and I participated in The Color Run 5K – one of those 100% Fun events. No chip timing, no clocks. There were so many people there, mostly walking, that any sort of running was kindof moot. Every kilometer was a color station where you run through a giant cloud of colored cornstarch with dust filter-protected staff squirting it all over you. It was fun – we both had a good time – but I can’t see myself doing it again. It’s hard for me to get SUPER PUMPED at 7am.

After the run we came home and got cleaned up before heading to the local diner for breakfast. We decided to ride our bikes there since it’s about a mile and a half from the house. Yummy food and then a short ride home, this time slightly different to avoid going up a hill on a busier road. Instead we went up a hill on not busy roads. 🙂

Then it was onward to the Nap phase of our 5k triathalon – I was down for the count for a full hour, so I’ll count that as a 5k Nap. 5K walk/run followed by 5k bike ride followed by 5k nap. That’s my kind of tri. 🙂

 

I noticed about a week or so after I stop cycling regularly my muscles ache. They ache to move and churn and spin through the miles. And eventually if I don’t get out and ride, that ache goes away. I feel like it’s a message from my body that it’s about to turn back time and stop being chiseled quads and gastrocs. And certainly I can tell my legs are still fantastic – but softer.

Sometimes I think back to the winter days when it was so cold and I struggled to keep my toes from freezing, dreaming of the summer bike rides, and wish I had more time. But I can’t say I’m not enjoying the time off too. Keeps me balanced as long as I don’t let it go too long, right? Moderation in all things.

 

And there’s a little bit of me that wants to strap on my running shoes again and throw down a 5k in the neighborhood for fun. Who’d have thought I might enjoy running just a tiny bit?

 

Anyway – hope to see you on the road soon. 😀

C’est la vie

Since we last met dear friend, life has happened. My oldest child celebrated a birthday, most of my extended family arrived for a visit at the always-appropriate hour of 4:30 in the morning, and the Fourth of July came and went.

The sad news: very, very little bicycle riding happened. I flaked out on a planned Sunday morning ride due to the aforementioned family arrival time in favor of getting some sleep. It’s amazing how little kids don’t seem to understand that 5am is probably not the right time to start telling me all about their road trip. Although later in the week, I did get my mom on The Beast while I hopped on Free Spirit and we tooled down to the tiny post office at the bottom of the hill. Of course that meant going back up the hill to get home but c’est la vie.

The good news is I fully immersed in Life. I got to spend an abundance of time with my family – my mom, dad, one of my sisters, my niece, and my nephews – for eight full days. Over doubling a household size could have been cause for alarm but the younger kids spent the days dressing up, wielding Nerf weaponry, building with the unending amount of Legos we have … and generally playing as hard as cousins can. The older kids alternated between helping the younger ones and quietly slipping off to their rooms or the family computer for some time with kids their own age.

Cookies were made. Dinners prepared. The girl cousins each ended the week with a new outfit made by their grandma. Tours of television studios and monuments of historical significance. We hiked the Wiss. One evening my sister, my husband and I took off for an Adults Only meal at the oldest continually operating tavern in the country. We also headed out for brunch one morning. We went down the Shore for a day to beat the heat – and get some yummy boardwalk treats.

The first half of the week was unending rain. The back half of the week was hot and humid. Dew points are well above 70* F and temps have a “real feel” of about 5-6* warmer.

On a fitness front, my sister is a runner so I ended up running with her on her shorter routes. She did a 12-miler on Monday morning and was cursing the humidity. We did a four-miler on Wednesday morning, a simple out-and-back that I somehow came up short by half of a mile so I had to jog up and down the sidewalk near my house to get the full mileage. Then she needed a six-miler so we decided to head out to Valley Forge so I could do the five-mile run and “earn” my race shirt (and she planned to just tack on an extra mile at the end).

It was hot. It was humid. We ran with a 16oz water bottle each. In the shade it was just hot and sticky – but in the bare sun, it was brutal. After the first mile-and-a-half I started to alternate running with walking to avoid overexertion – running in the shade, walking in the direct sun. I finally caught up to my sister around mile 2.5 to consult the route (and rest a bit – did I mention it’s hot and she’s not acclimated to the humidity?). We misread the map and resumed running – only to discover we made a wrong turn and would have at least a mile longer to run. Crossing a covered bridge, we landed on a shaded trail adjacent to a creek – and it felt amazing! The next 1.5 miles of shade were much easier to run. Back into the sun (and the last big hill) for a couple of miles before a delicious descent to the parking lot and my car.

Seven miles! My longest run to date. Even though I walked about 40% of the route, I feel pretty proud of this accomplishment. Just earlier that week the four-miler had been my previous best. And the bonus? My quads didn’t hurt the next day – because they were accustomed to the motions of running. It all makes sense – the more I run, the less it will suck.

Ultimately though, I missed riding my bike. I missed gliding along the pavement, the miles slipping by like water over the rocks in the creek bed. Running is good – cycling is my passion.

Yesterday morning I bid my family goodbye. It’s bittersweet to know we probably won’t see them until next year sometime but it will feel good to get back to mostly normal.

Until next time, see you on the road.

Longest Day, Longer Ride

When we last connected, dear reader, I was troubled by my health issues. The good news is I connected with my nurse practitioner and she agreed I’ve done everything I should, wrote me a script for full-strength acid blockers and told me I should see a GI doc if I don’t feel better in four weeks.

Of course, I was thinking “dude, if I’m not better in four DAYS there are going to be issues.”

The good news is the full-strength meds have worked. I don’t have to think about WHEN I eat anymore, although I am still careful about WHAT I eat. I’m off coffee until I’m done with the four-week course of meds. I’ve noticed some positive things since kicking coffee to the curb in the last month but I do miss it terribly.

But this is not why I am blogging, although thank you for asking about my health.

No, friends I am going to tell you about the most epic thing I’ve done yet on my bicycle. I rode 150.4 miles with my friends in one day.

I didn’t train very well for this ride to be totally honest. In fact, I had only ridden 143 miles this month over four days. None had been more than 60 miles or so. Lots of reasons why not but none of that matters the morning of your ride. I will note that my brain was totally all over this ride. I was so pumped thinking about it. There was very little doubt in my mind that I couldn’t accomplish this epic journey bicycling down the Shore.

Friday morning, I left my house about 6:30am and met my friends Howard and Ken at Ken’s house. Ken and Howard are preparing for a 7-day bicycle tour in upstate New York next month so this is a perfect training ride for them. Ken was even riding his commuter with a pannier (which I stowed my sunscreen, trail mix, and ziplock full of extra sport nutrition items) and trunk bag. Strapped to my top tube was a day’s worth of Cliff, Honey Stinger, and SportBeans in my Serfas Stem Bag that I won from All Seasons Cyclist’s blog contest. Shortly after arriving at Ken’s, the three of us set out to meet up with our other intrepid friends Andy and Rebecca, who are training for a 4-day charity ride in central Pennsylvania, closer into the City.

gorgeous morning to be riding
gorgeous morning to be riding

We met up, we crossed the bridge (RIP, Howard’s bar-end mirror that fell into the Delaware), and pedaled into New Jersey.

Everyone says it and you don’t really get it until you experience it:

  • Long bike rides are just a mind game. The first 50 miles were by far the hardest part of this journey – but not because it was a terrible grind or hilly or anything. Only because you have more miles in front of you than you have behind you. We stopped for lunch around mile 55 and celebrated that we had “only” 95 miles left to go. Break it down even further: we had rest stops about every 25-30 miles – mostly because we were pedaling through sparsely populated farmland.
  • Long bike rides necessitate eating on the bike. Humidity was low but it still got up into the mid-80s with brilliant sunshine. We were blessed with a few shaded roads but many more were out in open blueberry farm country. I forced myself to eat something every 10 miles or so and drained most of my water bottles to keep from bonking or cramping. Lunch was half a turkey wrap, a few fries, part of a pickle, and a Pepsi. At a gas station stop in the middle of nowhere, I picked up a Coke that I carried in my jersey pocket for the rest of the day. Later on we took a break at a Wawa and I split a hoagie with Ken (whole wheat shorty, turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, pickles, little mayo, yellow mustard, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper – Super Yum).
  • Long rides are only better with friends. Everyone had someone to ride and chat with. No one was dropped. Everyone regrouped at key rest stops. Singing songs about falling in love on the way to Cape May or bitchin’ Camaros. 80s rock ballads. We had it all – and the miles rolled on by.
  • Long rides mean metering your energy. I feel I did well but one can tell I hadn’t trained: my initial rolling speeds were 18-20 mph; around mile 108 they were down to 16-18 mph; the final 20 miles were 13-16 mph. At a certain point the pedals just keep turning as you watch the odometer tick off the miles. I was tired as we left mile 130 – I downed a Cliff Energy Gel but 10 miles later I was running out of gas. I am very thankful for Howard and Ken sticking with me. I had a few more Cliff Gel Blocks left so I downed those and was able to finish out the day in positive spirits.

One of my favorite moments: we were stopped at a light in Ocean City, maybe ten blocks from the end, and Howard looks at me and says “Have you been drinking?’

My first thought was “when the hell did we stop at a liquor store?” so I said “No, of course not.”

I panic for one second thinking my speech must be slurred or something.

Then my brain went “UM – DUH. WATER.” So I said “Oh wait – YES. Yes I have – my bottle’s almost empty.”

We rolled up to the B&B we were all staying at around 8:20pm. I proudly announced “To all the haters, SUCK IT! That just happened!”

Yeah. Stay classy, Laura.

Cathy (Ken’s wife) and my own family had just pulled up. We got checked in, I showered and changed, and then joined my fellow riders on the porch for some of the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. Crashed in bed by 10:30pm.

And that, my friends, is how I spent the longest day of 2013.

I then spent the next day walking around the boardwalk, relaxing on the beach, and generally having a great time with my family. I felt no guilt about the funnel cake or gelato or fudge that I ingested. I was pleasantly surprised to only feel marginally sore in my quads and minor soft-tissue swelling on my sit-bone area (another topic for another post). More than anything though, I felt tremendous happiness at our accomplishment. Certainly the longest single-day ride I’ve ever done.

Like Stats? Here they are on Strava, fresh from my Garmin 510: http://app.strava.com/activities/62059109

See you on the road.

Health

So I’ve looked at my cycling mileage for June and they are more like what I was doing over the winter instead of the glorious warm weather riding I should be doing. Through May I was riding four days a week; I’ve been out on only four days this whole month. Going on vacation definitely had an impact, as did accommodating my husband’s business travel schedule. His schedule is only going to get more complex between now and the end of October so I’m going to have to get out when I can.

I’ve also been battling stomach issues since the beginning of June. I’m no stranger to them – they started in high school with a peptic ulcer from drinking a few pots of coffee a day. Hey – that’s what my friends and I did during Second Hour! I remember living off Diet Coke and saltines that summer as I let my stomach heal. But really, my stomach has never been the same. So I’ve made lots of dietary changes in the last eighteen or so years.

(g-d that makes me feel old)

Stomach issues tend to be more common in women than men too – like twice as likely. Which is probably why none of my guy friends ever seem to have issues with eating crazy-spicy foods, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and refill on coffee all day.

  • I’ve cut out spicy food (a relative term since anything more than Medium is too spicy to me).
  • I don’t drink alcohol except special occasions – and I have a one-drink maximum.
  • I avoid acidic foods. Orange juice with breakfast went a long time ago but I love pizza too much.
  • I’ve reduced the amount of fried and fatty foods, replacing them with fresh and vegetarian options.
  • For several years I quit coffee and only enjoyed tea (black, green, and white), but I worked coffee back into my diet a few years ago. I just love it too much. But I limit myself to one oversize mug per day, about 2 cups.

I exercise and generally eat right. And for the most part, I don’t have issues. Except this is the second time I’ve battled my stomach this year. I’ve been on omeprazole for ten days now with limited relief. So it’s time to go see a doctor. Which is timely, as I have a major (140+ mile) bike ride planned on Friday and I really don’t want to miss it because of my stomach. I’ve already missed too many bike rides this year due to feeling like my body is trying to turn itself inside out when it’s time to roll out.

I write all this not to garner sympathy or supportive messages – but to validate to myself that it’s not an excuse. I need to get back on the level so I can go back to being fun and awesome again. I miss myself!

And also, perhaps there are other recreational athletes out there who struggle with this too from time to time – we aren’t alone even though sometimes it can feel that way. I mean really, who wants to admit they have a sensitive stomach?

Hope to see you on the road soon!

Satisfaction

So tonight I went on what was a regular bike club ride for me last year – the Tuesday night D/C ride from the library behind my house. It is easily my favorite ride because the route changes depending on the whims of who shows up and there is no competition or competitiveness. It’s just people on bikes enjoying a lovely summer evening.

I decided to ride Lady Rainicorn since she’s been cooped up in my garage for a couple weeks. Plus this isn’t a crazy ride – it’s intended to be gentle and relaxing. This evening’s crew included our fearless ride leader, a couple on a tandem, and a woman from the Main Line area who is training for her first century at the end of July.

Indeed the ride was relaxing and the conversation flowing. Our intended route was blocked so we ended up detouring to Warington before turning back to Glenside.

As we pedaled I thought about when my friends James and Rachel and I rode our bikes to brunch the other week. I borrowed Rachel’s vintage Raleigh, a beautiful light blue Technium 440 with blueberry-colored bartape, matching pedals, and a rack. The lugging was gorgeous. Having ridden my own vintage bicycle, I was much better prepared for the stem-mounted friction shifters. The ride itself wasn’t terribly difficult or fast but it was the simple act of being with friends, on bikes, that felt really good. Correct. And while this isn’t the first ride my friend Rachel has gone on since her crash last summer, it was the first with me and I felt happy to see her back on her beautiful modern bike.

There is something to this thing we call cycling that excites the soul and satisfies a transcendental need. Being able to go out with friends and experience a peaceful evening together, letting the wind blow through your spokes, and sharing the events of the day is so rejuvenating. Sometimes I don’t want the ride to stop.

We rounded the corner to the library as cars were putting on their headlamps … And it reminded me that I lost my headlight at Elephant Rock the week prior. I didn’t notice this until the ride ended. My sister said she saw something blow off my bike early in the ride but didn’t know it was my light so she didn’t say anything. It was exceptionally windy after all. So I guess I can take the opportunity to upgrade my bicycle lights because I will definitely need another light.

Even now as I sit here on my couch typing this I can feel the happiness emanating from my core. There really is nothing finer than a summer evening with friends.

See you on the road.